Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
I think there are too many unknown future variables to accurately assess that one way or the other. So it boils down to what each of us thinks is best for his/her own individual situation.
For me personally, I've been at rock bottom of the M88A category for over 7 years. I only have 10 years left in my career and I have no desire to fly a different airplane. So my plan is to stay on the 88 for my remaining 10 years and hopefully be very senior on it within a few more years. I don't mind being "productive" when I'm at work. In fact, I would prefer that over sitting around.
For me, it comes down to how many days I have to work versus how much money I make. Retirement is coming together nicely, so I'm not looking for improvements to that other than the automatic improvement I would get with increased pay (15% company contribution). Right now, I'm having to work too many days (probably averaging about 18 days per month) to get even remotely close to what I would like to make. I'd like to see that number go down to more like 15. But I don't mind flying more hours during those 15 days. What is imperative to me is that the pay rates, work rules, or some combination improve to the point where my W2 is approximately equivalent to the W2 of an M88A in 2004 adjusted for inflation. That is my objective. There are probably 12,000 other objectives... some very similar to mine and some completely different. But I'll bet W2 improvement is pretty darn high for a large majority.
I completely agree..
It's what I've been "beating".... See 88, I'll post it for myself too
I'm all about us being productive at work!
Projection for 2014
(20 days vacation left in OCT/NOV/DEC.)
14.66% Profit sharing (I think it will be higher, YMMV)
$143.82 . .W2 hourly rate (PS and longevity step included)
1240.5 . . Pay Hours
166 . . . . . days of work
13.83 . . . Avg. Days of work per month
7:28 . . . . Avg Hours/day
I'd like to be at 12.37 days per month! <--C2015 goal
Caution: Personal example below, not indicative of the pilot group as a whole
C2K 2004 average rate would have been $148.68
2014 equivalent with inflation becomes $187.52
Estimating that DAL pilots only worked an avg. of 12.83 days per month during C2K era (I've been continuously told it was between 12-13 "back in the day"), I'll knock 12 days off @ my avg.of 7.47 hrs./day of work. That's a reduction of 89.67 hours.
1240.5-89.67= 1,150.86 hours
C2K 12.B.5.a-b "....cap will not exceed 78:45 for intl. and 79:45 dom."
DAL was block hour biased domestically, but use a 50/50 split to keep it conservative and since we are wanting "C2K" in our current environment (which is near 50/50).
Therefore DAL pilots had a "monthly pay max" of 79:15.
79:15 x 12 = 951 hours of pay
C2K max x Inflation 2004 rate = W2
951 x 187.52 = $178,331.52
C2014 actual x (2014 rate x PS%) = W2
1150.86 x 143.82 = $165,516.69
When getting the same 12-13 days of work each month, as of now
I personally need a 7.75% raise on the pay tables to match a C2K 2004 W2* when accounting for
days worked for versus how much money I make. <-- See what I did there?
Each pilot's situation for 2014 will be different. Again, I caution that this is not an "every Delta pilot" example; if PS is above or below my guesstimate that changes the bingo %. 88 says he's working way more days than me; likely for a lower avg. (i.e. less productive), and we need to keep improving that.
After the "lost decade" it will take
a heck of a lot more than 7.75% to make up the damaged $$$ and QOL. Especially for the deadzoners, and the int'l. fleets in each base probably haven't seen the flex in hrs./day that domestic fleet have, so they'll need
an even higher % to equal a C2K adjusted figure.
*This does not include the massively increased cost of medical, etc. However, it doesn't include $$ value increases from: increased RES Guar., ADG 5:15, Co. life Ins., or the QOL increases from vacation slide/any, increased RES days off, LC starts at 1000, 10:30 min rest.